The first person he recognised in the medical centre was Senna.Later Senna gave a press conference “Imola is dangerous,” he said. Only the week before, the former triple champion, Niki Lauda, had voiced the opinion that Schumacher was already superior to Senna.After 16 minutes of official qualifying on Friday afternoon, the mood changed with Rubens Barrichello’s ugly accident in the very quick Variante Bassa.As the Brazilian was taken first to the medical centre, and then airlifted to the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna, it became apparent that he had had a miraculous escape. There would be fascination in watching how he coped with the sort of pressure from Schumacher that he had once himself applied to Prost. Everything seemed so clear cut as the Brazilian Grand Prix kicked off the 1994 FIA Formula One World Championship. Having left McLaren for Williams-Renault, Ayrton Senna would resume his domination of Formula One in the car that, since 1991, had let others challenge and beat him.
He had 41 wins to Alain Prost’s record of 51, and now that he had eased Prost out of the Williams seat and F1 altogether it seemed only a matter of races before Senna had claimed a record tally of victories to go with his record tally of pole positions.But by Imola the end of April, the weekend that would change Formula One, Senna had yet to finish a race.

Michael Schumacher and Benetton-Ford had won both races and suddenly become the pacemakers.Because it was Imola – where this weekend’s Grand Prix will be staged 10 years down the line – the atmosphere was light as free practice unfolded on Friday Now the season was really going to get underway. It added spice that Senna was going to be the underdog for a while. He had spun out of the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos and been taken off in the Pacific Grand Prix in Aida. As part of the deal with Ecclestone’s Formula One Administration, Interpublic agreed to pay them $93m (£51m).
The race, run at the circuit owned by the British Racing Drivers’ Club, has long been one of the few to elude Ecclestone’s control and in recent years he has been ferociously critical of the circuit and its facilities. In February he likened it to “an old house that claims to need only a few repairs Actually it needs major reconstruction. I don’t see a future for it”.He was less critical earlier this month in Bahrain, where the lavish facilities surpass all other circuits, and admitted that he would hate Formula One to lose its traditional venues.Now the future of the British Grand Prix appears to be secure, as Ecclestone has the rights until 2015.”The BRDC believes it is of paramount importance to the sport and industry in the UK that we retain the British Grand Prix at Silverstone,” a cautious BRDC statement said. He continued to work at Parkhead up until his death, going to the club on matchdays helping out in hospitality suites..

The war between Bernie Ecclestone and Silverstone may be over, after the Formula One commercial rights holder yesterday bought, from the American advertising giant, Interpublic, the rights to stage the British Grand Prix. He was a very good goalkeeper and we remained on very good terms after we stopped playing.”Simpson retired in 1970 but made one final appearance at Parkhead a year later when the Lisbon Lions played together for one final time.He took over as manager of Hamilton Academical but he stayed at the club for less than a year. Greig said: “That day at Wembley in 1967 was simply fantastic and Ronnie played his part. He also played in another historic game when he made his debut for Scotland in the 3-2 win over the then world champions England at Wembley.The former Rangers player John Greig, who played in that international with Simpson, also paid tribute to the goalkeeper. But in 1967 Simpson joined the ranks of Celtic legends for his part in helping the club become the first British team to win the European Cup.